You Better Belize It

  Belize City, Belize
Thursday, December 20, 2007

After Mexico I headed south to Belize. If you didnīt manage to grasp that from the title you are stupid and probably my sister, Rachel.
Belize is an ex colony, they speak english there, this was my first chance to interact with the locals on more than just a basic sign language level as had been conducted thus far. My first stop was Belize City. The biggest place in Belize, the name is a bit misleading because its small with a population of around 80,000. This is an estimate I couldnīt be bothered doing a head count. It was a Saturday night when I arrived in Belize city. I met a Swede and a German (named Tam and Rab respectively) in the hostel and we went out clubbing that evening. It was a reggae/dance/rap sort of music mix, my favourite! We were the token gringos in the club. I always get a good vibe from a place when three different locals approach and warn you to be vigilant so you donīt get mugged. I hatched a master plan there and then to spend my money on beer so no-one could rob it and it worked! There is alot to be said for the extra attributes of beer!
One notable incident that happened in Belize city was when I sparked up a conversation with an Indian shop keeper. When he discovered I was from Glasgow he said " I am friends with the Glasgow airport bombers". Iīll be honest, I didnīt know what to retort to this, it was a bit of a conversation killer. All relevant details have been forwarded to John Smeaton.
From Belize city, I met up with Steve again (who was overwhelmed by his trip to the ruins) and we headed to Caye Caulker, an island on the caribbean. Caye caulker was cool, there was a football pitch there where we played with the locals every night. I played some no-nonense safety first stuff from centre half. I think the locals were impressed with my 50 yard boots up the field and I contributed at the other end also with some towering headers from set pieces.
Caye Caulker is all about the marine life. I went scuba diving here and saw some eels, turtles and barracudas, managed to breathe the whole time, which was nice. The scuba diving was trumped by the snorkeling. We got a boat to a place called stingray alley. In only about 5ft of water there was about half a dozen stingrays swimming round my feet, one even swam between my legs - I didnīt die though. After this we visited shark alley where there were loads of ..... wait for it ..... sharks! Great massive huge 3ft long nurse sharks swimming inches from my face. As a great white shark dive veteran though I was able to take this in my stride. Caye caulker was split into two by a hurricane. The "split" was a cool place to hang out and slap on the factor 40 every three minutes (safety first). Iīm sorry I was a bit camera shy in the Cayes and only have these two photos, spent alot of time on boats and didnīt want to break my camera. I was sitting on a sort of concrete enjoying a beer when a stingray swam past!! This seldom happens in bars back home. Me and Steve invented the diving headed flop game here where you would jump of the peer hopefully head the football and then flop into the water with points awarded for finesse and technical ability. Its only a matter of time before its an olympic event.
One thing that is absolute genius is the theme tune for the news on the radio. They use Dallas!! From Belize city Steve said his tear stricken goodbyes and I caught a bus down to Placencia in the south. As the bus trundled out of the bus station it stopped for an old rasta man but the driver refused to let him on the bus. An argument prevailed climaxing when the rasta man put a brick through the bus window and then done a runner. There was a police car behind the bus but the officers were totally oblivious to this, probably to busy listening to the Dallas theme tune. Eventually they gave chase and we did to in the bus, through the streets of Belize city but it was to no avail as the offender was off.
Placencia was nice, live band plays on a Sunday and the whole town turns up but it was raining the whole time I was there and I was paranoid about getting burnt. After Placencia I headed to Punta Gordain the south, my last stop before Guatamala. The original plan was to stay one night but as with most places I ended staying longer. The people were cool here. It was when the Gers were playing Barca. The bars were shut but one guy said he would open just so I could watch the game! I brought along another three punters from the hostel (Betty, Agnes and Jimmy if I remember correctly). It was a definate hand ball by Henry, thats the only way the French can score against the Scots, by cheating!
The 1st night in PG was spent listening to Garifuna drum players. They were playing traditional music intertwined with a bit of Back street Boys?! I would like to point out that it was the company I was in that noticed this and not me, I was always more of an N-Sync fan. The next night I met a cool Rasta guy called King, he gave me a grand tour of his hut! Life seems so simple for these guys, he has a plot of land where he grows fruit and veg, if he wants fish heīll catch it from the sea and he makes jewellery on demand for passing tourists. He seems content, he said heīd been to the UK and worked there but didnīt enjoy the lifestyle so he came back. From PG I got a boat to Livingston in Guatamala. Itīs called Livingston but there is no MaCarthur Glen desinger outlet there, but thats for another day.

I hope you all have a good christmas and new year guys.